Balder the Brave

Marvel's 1986 limited series Balder the Brave is one of those comics that I like a lot more now than I did when I first bought it. I've never been a big fan of Thor and the pantheon of Norse and other mythological deities in that corner of the Marvel Universe, but I was able to enjoy Balder now simply as a good self-contained fantasy story. In the comic, Balder has taken up with Karnilla, Queen of a realm of ice and snow. While Balder is away on a sojourn into Hel (don't ask), Karnilla is kidnapped by a band of Frost Giants and Balder has to away to her rescue. Fortunately, Karnilla isn't a standard damsel-in-distress, and actually has a pretty interesting personality--a heart of ice that only cools when Balder is around. At the end of the series, the two are torn apart because Balder has to return to Asgard to become King since Odin is dead/missing. I would actually read more about these characters, but I don't think they've appeared anywhere other than Thor comics since.